


let my heart light the way

by littlemsnerd



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Idiots in Love, M/M, Sleeping Beauty Elements, True Love's Kiss, listen theyre gross and i hate them, this is kinda sad but then really tooth rottingly disgusting so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-22 22:48:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10706760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlemsnerd/pseuds/littlemsnerd
Summary: Through twisted vine and blackened heartFor only one the leaves shall part





	let my heart light the way

**Author's Note:**

> hey yall its been a minute how are ya??? im good just dyin so thats fun ANYWAYS
> 
> this is like,,,fucking disgusting but i lov it and i lov them
> 
> as always, prompt me on my [tumblr](https://mxgnxsbane.tumblr.com)
> 
> enjoy :))))))

Since the minute he stepped into the Institute, Simon knew that this place was never, ever quiet. There was always something going on; a Downworlder issue, a demon infested taco shop, even small things like a certain ghost always sticking cats up in trees. In short, this was a world that always had something going on, no matter the time.

Needless to say, Simon was quite unnerved when he walked into a completely silent Institute. The only noise was the quiet humming of the computers in the main room, surrounded by motionless bodies on the floor-

Wait.

Simon knew that if he still had a heartbeat, it would be bursting out of his chest as he walked into the computer room and saw the motionless people laying on the floor. He rushed over to the closest one, looking for any signs of blood or physical harm, only to find none. He continued to try and figure out what the _fuck_ was going on, because the Soul Sword only affected demon-blooded creatures, what could've happened here? 

In a last ditch attempt, he raised the limp wrist of the Shadowhunter in question and held two fingers to the pulse point-

And let out a huge sigh of relief.

Because there was still a pulse. And now that Simon had calmed down enough to actually process the situation, he could see the slow rise and fall of their chest as well. Slowly, Simon rose to his feet, scanning the room to see if there was anything he was missing that could've caused this. From what he could tell, none of them were dead, or even hurt. They were all just...laying there. 

Like they were sleeping. 

And with that, Simon was officially worried.

At that moment, he spotted Alec across the room, slumped over on the control board, Izzy and Clary right next to him. Quickly, he stepped over the inert forms on the floor and ran to reach them. As he got there, Simon realized that even looking down the halls, there were many more bodies laying like this. It must be the whole Institute. Pushing down the growing fear, Simon tried to shake them awake.\

"Alec? Alec, come on man, wake up."

When nothing happened, he moved to the two girls.

"Clary? Izzy? Come on guys, what's going on?" he whispered, feeling like it would be wrong for him to speak normally in this scenario, jostling their shoulders and watching their heads roll slowly on the table, still not waking up. He tried everything: snapping in their ears, slapping Alec (he wasn't going to deny that he did that more times than what was probably necessary), even trying to find some water to pour over their heads.

But nothing was working.

Exhausted, Simon slid down the wall, looking out at all of the Shadowhunters, sleeping peacefully like this was some sort of sick and demented fairytale. Comforted by the sound of the humming machines, Simon sat there for nearly 2 minutes before realizing that there was a phone ringing.

He scrambled to his feet, trying to locate the source, because obviously if someone was calling someone here, there was someone else that was awake. And even if they didn't have a clue to what was going on, Simon would be glad to have the company. He walked forward quickly, following the noise...

Straight back to Alec's pocket.

Simon dug his hand into the pocket that looked to be lighting up and vibrating, pulling out (thankfully) a cell phone, the name MAGNUS displayed across the screen. Fumbling, Simon slid to accept the call and pressed it to his ear.

"Alexander? Are you there?"

"Magnus, its me. Simon. I don't know what's going on, but I'm here at the Institute and no one's moving and they're all just _laying_ there-" 

"Hey, slow down. Tell me what's going on." Magnus seemed calm, but stern, and Simon had been around him long enough to know that voice meant he was nervous.

"Okay, um. Well, I walked into the Institute to like, find Clary and see if there was anything I could do because I was getting really really bored down at the docks-"

"Focus, Simon."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Well, I walked in and it was like. Dead quiet. And I knew that was totally not normal so I went into the main room and they were all just laying on the floor! And I thought 'Shit, they're all dead' so I went to check for blood or anything but they're all still alive! And breathing! And then I tried to wake Alec and Clary up but nothing worked and then you called. So" This whole time, Magnus had kept relatively silent, only letting out the occasional hum to let Simon know that he was still there. After Simon had stopped talking, however, there was only silence from the other end of the phone.

"Magnus? Are you still there?"

"Don't move them. I'll be right there."

"What should I do while you're getting-"

Magnus appeared in front of Simon in the blink of an eye.

"-here?"

Simon dropped the phone in shock, trying to wrap his mind around Magnus appearing out of thin air. Sure, he had portaled before, but seeing it happen in front of him was just a tad unnerving (he still wasn't completely on board with this whole magic thing yet). Magnus was dressed in casual work clothes, leading Simon to assume that he'd been seeing clients before he called him (or Alec, rather). Hair spiked up, makeup done and nails painted, a long trench coat swinging over tightly fitting pants and a shirt that was buried by a mountain of necklaces. He walked out of the portal and slipped his phone in his pocket, eyes glancing over the situation before landing on Alec and striding over to him. Simon followed closely behind, circling around the table to try and see what Magnus was doing. 

Magic curled from his fingertips and danced onto Alec's forehead, trying to soak into the skin before sliding off like water off a ducks back. Magnus tried again, harder this time, but the magic only repelled as it had before. He walked around to Clary and Izzy, setting them down on the floor gently and pushing the magic into their foreheads with both of his hands.

Nothing worked.

Simon cleared his throat anxiously.

"So, uh, what's happening? Can you fix them? Did I do something-"

Magnus held up a hand, cutting Simon off before crossing back over to Alec, where he was laying on the floor, and carefully leaned over to brush his hair back into place before standing up with a long sigh. Finally, he turned to Simon.

"It appears that they're under a sort of...sleeping curse." The words rolled out of Magnus' mouth like liquor from a bottle, smooth and cold like vodka. His fingers came up to nervously twist the rings on his fingers, and Simon knew that whatever this was, it wasn't good.

"Okay, so how do we wake them up? Buckets of cold water?" Simon offered a half grin, trying to lighten the situation in vain, for all he got in return was a tight, closed-lipped smile.

"No, we must find the source of the enchantment. It must be nearby, and very powerful to have effected this many people."

"Why can't you break it?"

"Dear, I may be the High Warlock of Brooklyn, but there are some curses that even I cannot break myself." Magnus sighed, taking in the sights around him. "This appears to be one of them."

"Well, is there anything we can do? Can we fix it?" Simon tried, hands nervously twisting together and staring intently at Magnus. He seemed to consider it, eyes never leaving Alec's prone form on the floor. Drawing in a deep breath, he leaned back against the table heavily before speaking again.

"To have a spell effect this many people...this strongly- there must be a source of the spell. And it has to be close."

"Can you trace it? Maybe we can cut it off there." 

Magnus tilts his head with an exasperated look and rolls his eyes, before pushing off the table once again to cross over to one of the other people laying on the floor. He kneels down, coat settling in a circle around him as he raised his hands. Simon watched the blue magic roll off in waves, coating the body in an ethereal blue glow. The body raises off of the floor, arms dangling limply, fingers grazing the floor. Magnus' eyes slip shut as his hands traced symbols in the air, tiny blue lights dancing over the body slowly before his eyes snap open and the body drops to the floor with a heavy thud. Magnus stands up quickly and turns to Simon.

"I found it-it's very close. I think it's in the Institute somewhere-follow me."

He starts striding towards one of the open hallways, leaving Simon in his wake standing with his mouth hanging open. His thoughts were racing at a million miles per hour before his brain finally caught up and stumbled to follow Magnus.

\--

They trail through the Institute, Magnus watching every open door the come across, walking like he has a hook in his ribs, pulling him towards whatever they were looking for. It's eerily quiet, the only sounds echoing through the halls the quiet footfalls of their shoes and Magnus' quiet breathing. The Institute is like a labyrinth, each hallway just like the last, oak door after oak door fading into one another. They fall into a quiet monotony quickly, Magnus focused on the halls in front of him, Simon focused on Magnus. They lose track of time after the 4th right turn, floating somewhere between hours and weeks as they continue to crawl through. Simon zones out, eyes tracing the ceiling before slamming right in to Magnus' back. 

Shaking his head to come out of the stupor, Simon stumbles back before slowly walking up to stand beside where Magnus stood unmoving. In front of them was a door, much like all the other ones that they had passed, brown oak standing firm in front of them. Of course, there were two notable differences. One was the weird green glow spilling out from the inside through the cracks in the door.

The other was the wall of thorns that had twisted its way around the door, dark green and, from what Simon could see, almost a foot deep. Gnarled and thorny, the vines had dug into the door frame, twisting around each other, splinters littering the carpeted floor. Simon and Magnus stood in awe, jaws hanging open at the tangled mess in front of them.

"Well, this is certainly...new." Magnus drawled out, voiced hushed as if to not disturb the vines. Already, Simon could see the magic working out of his fingertips, and as he brought them up, Simon took a step back. Just in case. 

Magus pushed the magic towards the vines, hands moving in some odd pattern, feet digging into the carpet with the effort, but the plants didn't budge. The more Magnus strained, it appeared that the plants were actually growing thicker, slowly edging their way across the carpet. Magnus gave it one final shove before dropping his hands down to his side.

"It won't let me through. This is a very powerful spell they've managed to get placed upon them. I'd love to meet whoever did it..." Magnus mused, walking slowly towards the plants and dropping down to inspect them.

"Do you know who did this? Is it any of your warlock buddies?"

Magnus shot him a glare over his right shoulder. "Simon, this is no warlock magic. This is Seelie magic. Very powerful, but also very temperamental. There should be quite an obvious way to fix this."

Simon slowly walked towards the plants as well, trying to stay far enough away as to where he wouldn't get hurt, looking closely at the green vines. Splinters littered the carpet in front of them, and Simon could clearly see that the vines had come out of whatever room that door lead to, but they had grown so thick that there was no way to see through the holes.

Magnus stood up again, brushing off his knees and still looking at the thick vines on the floor. He glanced over at Simon, giving him a quick once over.

"Try and touch them."

Simon looked back at Magnus with a furrowed brow. Magnus, of course, was completely calm, hands resting in the pockets of his jeans. Simon sputtered out a sentence.

"Wha-I don't-why don't you touch them? I don't wanna get eaten by the man eating vines!"

"Dear, they're not going to eat you. The worst they're do is give you a little scratch, and you heal much faster than I do. Besides, I don't want to." Simon glared at Magnus' bored expression, realizing that nothing he did or said would convince the warlock differently. He gritted his teeth at Magnus and looked back towards the vines, crawling along the carpet like snakes. 

"Fine. But you owe me." he muttered, walking slowly towards the vines with his hand outstretched. As he got closer, Simon leaned down, just trying to brush the tip of the nearest vine-

It slithered away from him, moving back towards the door.

Simon yanked his hand back, looking to Magnus with wide eyes.

"Keep going."

Simon almost felt the smugness radiating off of Magnus in waves, completely confident that he knew something Simon didn't. Simon narrowed his eyes at Magnus again, before walking straight back to the vines, not even trying to touch them this time. He felt Magnus staring at him, but he was too attached to what was happening in front of him.

The vines were moving away, retreating back into the room with every step Simon took towards the, the carpet rustling under their thorns. He kept walking straight forward, eyes latched on every tangle he could see, just in case one was still planning to cut his foot off, but eventually he got to the door, vines completely withdrawn back into the room. He reached a hand out to the doorknob, before turning around and gesturing Magnus to come closer.

"No, no. I can't get any closer. They'd just come back out."

"I don't have any weapons or magic, what if I need to kill something? I don't know what to do when I get in there, are you sure you can't-?" Simon started, fear steadily growing in the pit of his stomach before Magnus cut him off.

"You will."

"I will what?"

"You'll know what to do. Follow your heart, Simon." Magnus replied smoothly, eyes glinting in the low lighted hallway of the Institute. Simon was pretty sure that was supposed to be comforting, but it just made him even more anxious about whatever was on the other side of that door. He turned back to the knob, resting his hand on it and drawing in a deep breath before turning it and pushing into the room, quietly muttering under his breath at the same time.

"Follow your heart, Simon even if it gets torn out of your body! You'll be-" 

Simon looked up and into the room as his sentence came to a screeching halt.

-"fine."

Inside the room was covered in the same vines as there had been outside. The light from the windows on the other wall barely filtered in, leaving small patches of pale light scattered on the floor. The room was mostly dark, the only prominent light sources being the open door and the giant glowing green orb hovering just above the bed in the center of the room.

Well. That was definitely new.

Simon quietly shut the door behind him, eyes trained on the- _thing_ in front of him. It was dark green, quietly hovering above a bed like a shield where someone lay, completely still. Simon walked closer, figuring that this had to be the source of the spell, and if he could just wake whoever this was up, everything would be back to normal.

As he approached the side of the bed, Simon slowed down, trying to see who it was through the green haze above them-

He stopped dead in his tracks.

It was Jace.

Simon felt his heart drop out of his chest and land on the floor, and even though he didn't need to, Simon suddenly couldn't breathe. It had been in the back of his mind the whole time, obviously. Everyone else was in the Command center, but when Simon was looking around, he couldn't see Jace. At the time, he had just pushed the thought aside, thinking that he was probably just out on patrol or something, but that hadn't stopped the small voice that was sitting in the back of his head, taunting him as he walked through the Institute with Magnus.

_What if he's dead? What if he's the only one the spell killed?_

Simon knew it wasn't rational, but that didn't stop him from thinking it. 

Simon snapped back to the situation at hand, eyes focusing on the prone body in front of him. Jace was still in his regular Shadowhunter clothes, shoes still on, knife still strapped to his thigh, which meant that he'd been out somewhere before being brought back here. His arms were folded across his chest, rising and falling with every breath he took, eyes closed, face perfectly calm. The green light danced across his features, highlighting the bridge of his nose, the line of his jaw, the curve of his lips-

Um. Okay.

Simon shook his head, trying to shake loose whatever weird spell this room was putting him under. Sure, Jace was an attractive guy, but he wasn't like, _that_ attractive. And besides, Simon was definitely straight, right? He was in love with...with Clary, right?

He decided to stop that train of thought before it just got worse.

Shakily, Simon looked over Jace one more time before looking around the room as well, trying to see if there was anything he could use to wake him up. Of course, there was nothing but vines and leaves, and small vents of dust circling around the room. Simon turned his attention back to Jace, brows coming together as he tried to figure out something that could work. He reached out to try and shake Jace's shoulder awake-

Before being stopped by the glowing green field and a sudden voice echoing around the room in a deep timbre.

_Through twisted vine and blackened heart_

_For only one the leaves shall part_

_A knight with no armor to save the prince_

_And break the curse with true love's kiss_

True love's kiss?

Simon felt his heart drop out of his chest and settle at the base of his stomach. His eyes darted around the room, desperately looking for anything that wasn't Jace, something that wasn't covered in vines, some semblance of reality in this completely insane situation. His eyes landed on the door and he remembered that Magnus was still out there. Maybe the room made a mistake. Maybe Magnus could tell him what the hell was going on.

He certainly hoped he could.

Simon crossed over to the door quickly, reaching out for the handle before jerking his hand away and hissing in pain, because of course, the handle was burning hot. No chance of leaving now.

Wonderful.

Simon hit the door with the side of his fist, standing as close to the wood as he could without getting burned. 

"Magnus? Are you still there?"

"Yes, Simon. What is it?" His voice carried faintly through the door, as if the thing was made with stone instead of old wood.

"Well, I found the source of the spell, but-I don't know what to do now."

"What is it?"

"Its-its, uh. It's Jace." Simon felt his throat close up as he nervously glanced back at the bed, the poem ringing around his head in circles.

"Really? Well, that's...interesting," Magnus' voice crawled through the cracks of the door disjointedly, as if he was trying to figure out this massive puzzle all by himself. "Can you wake him?" 

"No. I mean, I tried to shake him awake, but there's this like, weird green glowy thing around him? And when I touched it, this voice like, started saying something?" Simon tried to look back to the door, but his eyes were stuck solidly on the bed, and the body that was on it.

"Okay, and what did this voice say?" Magnus replied, sounding as if Simon was testing his patience to the very limit.

"Um...Well-here, uh. Gimme-gimme a sec." Simon stuttered out, as if the poem hadn't been repeating itself for the past 2 minutes over and over in his head. "Here, I got it. Uh, through twisted vine and blackened heart, for only one the leaves shall part, a-uh, a knight with no armor to save the prince, and break the curse with..." Simon trailed off, the last 3 words flashing neon lights in the front of his mind.

"Simon? Break the curse with what?" Magnus asked impatiently from the other side.

"Uh-um. I mean-I don't-"

"Simon. Tell me." Magnus cut him off quickly, voice ringing through the wood and straight into Simon's head, forcing the words out before he could stop them.

"True loves kiss. And-and break the curse with true loves kiss."

Silence.

"Magnus? Are-are you still there? What should I do? I mean, obviously the room made a mistake, I can't-I'm not-

"Oh, you poor boy." Magnus' voice came through the wood softly, and Simon felt his heart sink even lower than before.

"Magnus, what do you mean? I'm not Jace's true love, he-he doesn't even like me, and- and I can't-I hate him!" Simon said weakly, throat catching with every word coming out forcing himself to finally rip his eyes away from the bed. "No, it's not true, the room's lying to me!"

"Simon. Magic doesn't lie," Magnus said, voice coming through clearer now, but still muffled and quiet. "You know what you have to do."

Simon knew that if his heart could beat, it would be trying to burst out of his chest. He turned around and leaned heavily against the door, sliding down to sit on the floor with his hands in his hair, eyes still stuck on the bed. This wasn't right, it-it couldn't be, because Jace hates him, and he hates Jace, and you don't love someone you hate-

He felt his brain stop thinking, and even though he didn't mean to, he sucked in a deep breath.

Because it was true. It was all true, it had always been true and Simon didn't know when it had really become true but all he really, truly knew was that for some idiotic and completely stupid reason, Simon was in love with Jace. He couldn't say when or why or how but he just knew, in the very core of his soul, that he was. 

All of moments that they had shared flashed through Simon's head in a whirlwind of color and sound; the first time he met Jace, when he rescued him from the hotel, the look on his face when he watched Simon come out of the ground as a monster, the look on his face at Hunters Moon when Simon had "flirted" with him, the look on his face when Simon thanked him for everything, his face when Simon drank his blood, his fucking eyes and lips and every perfect fucking inch of him-

_Dammit_.

Simon buried his hands in his hair and let his head drop to his chest, letting out a soft groan. Just his luck, he'd fall in love with a guy that he has absolutely no chance with-

Wait.

Simon scrambled to his feet, the poem back in full force, running circles through his head. True love's kiss. True love's kiss meant that he loved Jace, so that meant-

True loves kiss meant Jace loved him too.

Simon walked slowly over to the bed, quiet and cautious, as if he was afraid he would shatter this fragile moment he'd created for himself based on hope and wishes alone. As he came up to the bed again, his eyes ran up and down Jace's body, completely still, bathed in the green glow from above him. The air was still, and the small patches of light that had filtered in through the vines were slowly disappearing with the setting sun, leaving the room bathed in an orangey red glow, interrupted by the stark green of the vines. 

It was a scene straight out of a movie, but Simon was so preoccupied with Jace he didn't even notice the passing time.

The only thing Simon noticed was the rise and fall of Jace's chest, the way his hair fanned out against the pillow, and just how...good this moment was. Slowly, Simon reached a hand out one more time to try and touch Jace's neck and this time, the voice stopped him again, but the message was different than before.

"Prove your honesty, Sir, and the shield will be lifted."

Simon's eyes never left Jace as he began to speak.

"I-I didn't realize it before now, but I'm, uh. I'm in love with him? Maybe not, _in_ in love with him, but-but I don't think I could've done any of this without him. And-and when I'm next to him, even though I don't have to breath, I can't, and I always thought that was like, hatred or something, but I know that it's not now and I don't know how I didn't realize it before-"

"You are honest and true, Sir. The shield is lifted." The voice broke through Simon's rambling train of thought, and the green field around Jace slowly shimmered out of existence. This time, when Simon brought his hand closer to Jace, he was able to reach down and touch his neck. Simon felt his lips part slightly, but everything was so out of body because he never in a million years thought that he would be here. Anywhere near this impossible scenario, and yet, here he was. Standing over a guy he really likes who he didn't even realize he liked until like, 30 seconds ago,who was under a sleeping curse that could only be woken by true loves kiss.

But somehow, he wasn't complaining.

So, slowly, as the sun set over the New York Institute, Simon leaned down and kissed Jace.

It was strange, to kiss someone who wasn't kissing back, but all that Simon could focus on was the solid warmth under him as his hand moved down to Jace's chest to steady himself. His hand splayed over Jace's heart, the steady beat warm and strong under his fingers.

Simon stayed like that for what seemed like hours before finally pulling away to open his eyes and looking at Jace again. At first, he didn't move, but as the light in the room steadily faded away, Jace's hands shifted ever so slightly, and Simon felt his heart grow in his chest. 

Finally, Jace opened his eyes.

They tightened together at first, trying to clear out the sleep, before blinking open and scanning the room, before coming to rest on Simon. A slight smile grew over his face.

"Um. Hi?" Simon tried, trying to suppress the grin that was creeping over his face as well and failing. 

"So, I see you finally got your act together." Jace said quietly, eyes roaming over Simon's faces, studying every dip and curve because he was finally allowed to.

"Well, it's not my fault that your flirting literally consists of insults and hatred."

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?"

"It literally took me having to kiss you awake to have it work, you shithead."

"That's a win in my book." 

This whole time, they'd been drawing closer and closer to each other, Jace's hand coming up to rest around Simon's neck, noses brushing. They looked at each other for a long while, studying each other, mapping to make sure that neither one ever forgot this moment.

And then, Jace gently pulled Simon down onto the bed and kissed him again. Simon leaned down onto the bed, arms coming up to tangle themselves in Jace's hair, chests pressing together with every slow and steady movement that they made. The kiss wasn't hot, or rushed, or mind blowingly sexual. No, this kiss was slow and careful, every movement made purposefully so that nothing in this little eternity would ruin their moment. Quiet gasps escaped every once and a while, a bitten back moan here or there as Simon swiped his tongue over Jace's lower lip and slipped into his mouth, a low noise from the back of a throat as Jace pulled Simon just that much closer to him.

This wasn't a kiss to end all kisses. No.

This was a kiss to begin many more.

As the sun set low over Brooklyn, the vines quietly slipped back to wherever they came from, and the Institute came back to life, Magnus standing over Alec as he slowly woke, Clary and Izzy quietly standing and slipping their hands together, fingers lacing and shoulders pressing. The night came with a quiet promise mornings to come; of mornings to wake up to, of days to look forward to, and of nights spent held tightly together, two bodies, one soul.

You don't get much more fairytale than that.


End file.
